USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)

[Dukhat]

Anybody else catch this bit?

Word initially was that this manual would span as far as the Enterprise in the J.J. Abrams reboot film. It doesn’t…

Smith: It doesn’t, at least not in any depth. The Abrams Enterprise, as we all know, is very obviously different externally and much less is known about it internally. There are perfectly valid reasons why the creators would not want anyone to invent or extrapolate based on what has been seen in just one movie. We had to respect that.(Emphasis mine) But also, it’s a different timeline and this meant we had to think very carefully about how we handled it in a book that is firmly rooted in the prime timeline. However, we have a section in the book dedicated to Parallel Universes, in which we discuss alternate realities of which this is one.

JJ and Co. are making a concerted effort to make sure nobody else gets to play in their sandbox.


"Well, duh," is the obvious answer, but think about this for a bit. One of the fun things about Star Trek is how people rushed in from all corners to fill in the gaps and play with the universe (always with the understanding that their efforts really didn't go much further than their own entertainment; even before "THE MEMO" it was always understood that only what's onscreen counted). With Bad Robot shutting down all these ancillary efforts, that's gonna cut into the audience generating any interest in their product.


The JJVerse may crash and burn sooner than expected.

How on Earth are you coming to that conclusion, Bobby, based on Smith's quote? His text that you bolded sounds like his opinion, not any kind of stated mandate from Abrams. Show me a direct quote from Bad Robot where someone said anything about future products/literature etc. not being allowed to extrapolate from Star Trek '09.

 

[YARN]

Yeah, I think they tried to have their cake and eat it too, and cover all the bases? This (IMHO) is the fundemental flaw in the aproach to the movie?

Yep.

 

[Forbin]

Bad Reboot.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This continual wishful thinking about JJTrek "crashing and burning" is a hoot.

Trek fans just seem to be a bit at sea in terms of the economics of dealing with a really successful movie franchise.

All of the licensing around nuTrek is very much more controlled than oldTrek - goes for that online game, too, whose designers have been very guided in what they can use and refer to. The studio is not going to let everyone tear off little chunks of what is a very good thing for Paramount, and that includes the oldTrek fan community. Get used to it.

 

[Warped9]

They wanna keep nuTrek separate from original Trek? Good!

Um, when is this book supposed to be available anyway? It'll be a lot easier to argu---er, discuss when we've got it in hand.

 

[Captain Robert April]

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

nuTrek will eventually be replaced by the next reboot, which also won't be oldTrek. Same as the way Spider-Man is being rebooted once again in the movies after less than a decade. Welcome to the 21st century...

 

[BolianAuthor]

^

Quite right, Dennis... rebooting does seem to be the new fad. However, that doesn't mean that I have to support it if I don't like it. Atolm tells me that the next Superman will also be a reboot, which really ticks me off, because I'm in the minority that thought Superman Returns was perfect, and the fact that they feel the need to "undo" what Superman Returns did is enough for me to vote with my wallet, and stay away.

I am not going to support a rebooted anything "just because" it's new and flashy and I should. I will support a reboot if it is done properly, fully honors the original material, and actually has a need for the reboot that makes sense.

 

[ST-One]

^

Quite right, Dennis... rebooting does seem to be the new fad. However, that doesn't mean that I have to support it if I don't like it. Atolm tells me that the next Superman will also be a reboot, which really ticks me off, because I'm in the minority that thought Superman Returns was perfect, and the fact that they feel the need to "undo" what Superman Returns did is enough for me to vote with my wallet, and stay away.

I am not going to support a rebooted anything "just because" it's new and flashy and I should. I will support a reboot if it is done properly, fully honors the original material, and actually has a need for the reboot that makes sense.

You know, I too really liked Superman Returns; it's a really good, understated film.
But I can also see why it doesn't have the mass-appeal such an expensive movie needs.

 

[SeerSGB]

This continual wishful thinking about JJTrek "crashing and burning" is a hoot.

Trek fans just seem to be a bit at sea in terms of the economics of dealing with a really successful movie franchise.

All of the licensing around nuTrek is very much more controlled than oldTrek - goes for that online game, too, whose designers have been very guided in what they can use and refer to. The studio is not going to let everyone tear off little chunks of what is a very good thing for Paramount, and that includes the oldTrek fan community. Get used to it.

I don't think it'll "crash and burn" but I do think it'll short lose its steam as people lose interest; as many of the more recent reboots of properties have. And from there we'll get another reboot.

 

[ST-One]

This continual wishful thinking about JJTrek "crashing and burning" is a hoot.

Trek fans just seem to be a bit at sea in terms of the economics of dealing with a really successful movie franchise.

All of the licensing around nuTrek is very much more controlled than oldTrek - goes for that online game, too, whose designers have been very guided in what they can use and refer to. The studio is not going to let everyone tear off little chunks of what is a very good thing for Paramount, and that includes the oldTrek fan community. Get used to it.

I don't think it'll "crash and burn" but I do think it'll short lose its steam as people lose interest; as many of the more recent reboots of properties have. And from there we'll get another reboot.

So?
Trek has been rebooted four times now already.
I really don't see the problem.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...I do think it'll short lose its steam as people lose interest; as many of the more recent reboots of properties have. And from there we'll get another reboot.

Exactly so. oldTrek is dead, and the continuing success of future Trek will always require rethinking, renewal and recasting.

Reboots are good or bad depending entirely on the content of a particular version and the personal preferences of a given viewer. It's not a fad but a practical and necessary way for commercial entertainment companies to do business now - or maybe more precisely it's a "fad" in the sense that the continual introduction of new styles and fashions in everything from automobiles to frocks to McDonalds' menu items are.

oldTrek fandom "controls" precisely none of the Trek franchise, and will have less and less influence over those areas of the marketing that they currently do still have simply because that cohort is aging. Anyone who thinks that there's a continual and successful recruitment of new and/or young viewers to the ranks of admirers of the old versions of Star Trek that is sufficient to interest Trek's owners may as well be taking hallucinogens.

Count me as another viewer who thoroughly enjoyed Superman Returns, BTW.

 

[Ronald Held]

So you iterate by rebooting until you get something the public likes for a few years?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

So you iterate by rebooting until you get something the public likes for a few years?

Not "until" - the public liked the Spider-Man movies fine, and likes the current version of nuTrek quite well. These things have a half-life, though. Sony doesn't want to run Spidey into the ground to the point that they actually lose money on a project or the profits become negligable.

Paramount did that with the TOS movies, the TNG movies, and modern Trek on TV. It's unlikely that they'll do so again.

Ten years from now there's likely to be a third group playing Kirk and Spock and the gang, or very close analogues of them in essentially a TOS setting. Those movies will be produced in a style appropriate to the audience and market at that time.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think it's debatable just how much the general public currently likes NuTrek, and thanks to Bad Robot putting the kibosh on just about every attempt of tie-in merchandising, we still won't have any idea of the true interest level until the next movie comes out, which, for better or worse, is the point of no return, and since there's bloody little on the shelves to stoke the fires of interest in JJ's little baby, it may very well be for worse.

Meanwhile, merchandising for TOS and the others continues along, maintaining a presence in the marketplace, continuing to service the fanbase, and always there for someone new to happen by and think, "Hm, that looks interesting..."

 

[BolianAuthor]

^

Well, merchandise-wise, nuTrek has been an absolutely abysmal epic failure, and I can say this with a fair degree of certainty, because literally EVERY store I have gone to where nuTrek toys are sold, they have NOT been selling... AT ALL. The shelves are just overflowing with them since the film came out, and quite simply, nobody wants them, lol. The local Toys R Us not only has them at half-price and they STILL are not selling, but even the local Big Lots cannot get rid of half an isle worth of the things... BIG LOTS!!! I mean, that just shows how sad the scenario is.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's nicely anecdotal. Of course, Trek has been considered a white elephant in toy retailing for a long time now, which is how Playmates managed to get the toy license back - the folks who make real money off this stuff with expensive replicas sure weren't going to outbid them for it.

Companies sure are still lining up for Trek licenses - especially the high-end collectables. Funny about that...in the meantime, the folks who can't get in on that action, like Haynes and the ST Online folks, are fairly frustrated by the fact.

I know some oldTrek fans would like nuTrek to be a failure. Unfortunately for anyone who's waiting for a resurgence of the old stuff, the studio and everyone else involved knows Abrams's movie to be a resounding success, and that's the direction in which they're continuing to move forward. They have no motivation whatever to go backward.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

^

Well, merchandise-wise, nuTrek has been an absolutely abysmal epic failure, and I can say this with a fair degree of certainty, because literally EVERY store I have gone to where nuTrek toys are sold, they have NOT been selling... AT ALL. The shelves are just overflowing with them since the film came out, and quite simply, nobody wants them, lol. The local Toys R Us not only has them at half-price and they STILL are not selling, but even the local Big Lots cannot get rid of half an isle worth of the things... BIG LOTS!!! I mean, that just shows how sad the scenario is.

I think that has more to do with the Playmates toys being crap than anything else. If Art Asylum had done the Trek toys and kept up the same level of quality they displayed before, I would've snapped them up in a New York minute. As soon as I heard Playmates got the license back, my interest waned.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I think that has more to do with the Playmates toys being crap than anything else. If Art Asylum had done the Trek toys and kept up the same level of quality they displayed before, I would've snapped them up in a New York minute. As soon as I heard Playmates got the license back, my interest waned.

Trek has been a very hard sell in the retail toy market since the late 90s. Collectors (generally somewhat older folks) like Trek. Kids are not interested and haven't been for quite a while. Playmates may be "crap," but no one else really wanted the license to sell Star Trek toys through places like Toys R Expensive.

 

[FalTorPan]

Star Trek -- old or new -- makes for a boring toy line. The characters don't do much more than talk, so calling their toy depictions action figures is something of a misnomer. The only small vehicles that the characters typically interact with are shuttlecraft, which basically look like vans, so their toys aren't very interesting either. The starships typically maneuver like slugs, so their toys aren't interesting, and due to the theoretical size of starships, their toy renditions can't easily interact with the action figures.

I'm not saying that past Trek toys haven't been interesting. They have. I can say, however, that they don't have the same "fun factor" as, say, Star Wars toys or Transformers toys.